A worker roasts cashew nuts to prepare them for shelling at Sai Cashew Factory in Kanyakumari District. The minimum 180 foot regulation for chimneys roasting cashews are often flouted...The women workers workers at this factory earn between Rs.8-13 per kilo of shelled nut they process. Workers process between 8-10kg of cashew nut per day. Hazards include burning from the acidic oil released from the cashew shell when it is cracked. Workers protect their hands with improvised gloves and a coating of ash. The work is highly repetitive and many workers suffer back-pain and arthritis. Some of the women workers have reported damage to the uterus. The discarded shell of the nut is packed and sold as a component in the production of a termite-resistant chemical used to treat wood. Unlike workers in neighbouring Kerala government factories, workers in Tamil Nadu receive no pension contribution from their employers...In Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari District alone there are 580 cashew processing factories. In Tamil Nadu state there are a total of 760. In Kanyakumari District 175,000 workers are employed in the cashew industry...The expanding global market for cashew nuts has a direct effect on the livelihoods of women workers in the Indian cashew processing industry. The power imbalance between intensely competing producers and relatively few buyers in the global market place gives large retailers, the supermarkets, the upper hand over their supply chains. Supermarkets are increasingly able to dictate the terms on which business is done and how the cashew is produced, as well as to capture most of the revenue generated along the chain. For Indian workers who process the cashew nuts such work, while essential for survival, does not provide enough income to raise households out of poverty. The increasing informalisation of employment in the sector creates insecure and hazardous working conditions. International trade too often fails to provide the kind of economic growth which will